Clean up your maChIne - AMD FirePro

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Clean up your machine It might seem a little elementary, but we can’t stress enough how important it is to keep your workstation in top shape

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omputers tend to become quite clogged up over time, with an abundance of temporary files, cookies, start-up applications and more putting more pressure on your machine and becoming detrimental to performance as a result. However, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to get on the right track – there are several things you can do right now to clean up your computer and boost performance. Bear in mind, though, that you should always back up all of your files to an external drive and keep your system repair disc at hand.

be out of date without you realising. Most drivers will update automatically if you have a working internet connection, although occasionally they won’t and will need further action. Windows comes with a basic set of drivers, but for 3D applications, pay attention to graphics drivers and chipset drivers. Visit your 3D app’s certification page to check you have the right drivers – be warned that these won’t always be the most up to date. AMD offers a full set of up-to-date GPU drivers for its FirePro range at support.amd.com.

Give it a clean

Turn off unnecessary start-up programs

It might sound silly, but problems can occur if you let your workstation become extremely dusty. You may have seen the inside of a workstation before, but if you haven’t, pop the side off of your machine and you’ll be amazed at how much dust gathers in your tower! Clean out your machine as often as possible, especially if it’s located under a desk or in the corner of the room. Buy a can of compressed air to get the fluff out of your computer and pay attention to any fans – air circulation is critical! Word of warning – don’t use a vacuum cleaner!

Restart your machine

Even after you’ve closed an application some residual tasks and, crucially, memory usage will remain. Restart your machine on a regular basis, as this will help you to avoid memory leaks and will unclog portions of your computer’s memory, too. On top of this, as you know, your operating system automatically updates on a fairly regular basis; these updates require a computer restart to take effect.

Cull unwanted programs

This is perhaps the most obvious solution when it comes to optimising performance, and yet it’s really easy to forget to do! Head to Start>Control Panel>Programs>Uninstall a Program and browse through the apps that are stored on your computer. You may find that many of them are unnecessary, so select the offenders and hit Uninstall Program. Be careful, though, as there are many apps that might not seem necessary yet do important things. If you’re unsure, ask a professional for advice.

Keep your drivers up to date

This might seem a little complicated, but in fact it’s very simple. Essentially, hardware works with a set of drivers per component, and these can sometimes

Every time you boot up your workstation there will be several programs that launch automatically and continue to run in the background, sapping performance in the process. Head to Start>All Programs>Run and type in ‘msconfig’. Click the Startup tab and you’ll be faced with a long list of processes that initiate as soon as your operating system boots up. Some of these will be fairly unnecessary, such as proprietary software/ hardware features that don’t really do much, but be super careful when deselecting anything – you can do more damage by deselecting the wrong processes. Double-check before removing anything.

Delete unnecessary files

If you’re working on multiple VFX projects or store a lot of files on your computer, your hard drive will fill up pretty fast and slow down your machine. This can be a problem with many SSDs (solid state drives) as the price per GB of storage is higher than a traditional hard drive and therefore most SSDs are smaller. You can do this by deleting any installation packs on your drive. Apps like Maya, for example, will leave behind residual installation files that can be quite large. Double-check that the app still works before deleting permanently though! On top of this, right-click on the drive that you want to clean up, select Properties and then Disk Clean-Up. This in-built Windows tool will rid you of temporary internet files and other clutter.

Defragment your hard drive

This is a simple way to increase your hard drive’s performance, but bear in mind that doing this to an SSD will not improve performance – it may even reduce the lifespan of the drive. Hit the Start button

Restart your machine on a regular basis, as this will help you to avoid memory leaks and will unclog portions of your computer’s memory and open the Disk Defragmenter. Under Current Status select the disk that you want to defragment. Click on Analyze Disk to ascertain whether or not the disk requires a defrag then click Defragment to begin the process. Even server architecture benefits from this, so keep defragmentation in mind.

Set to maximum performance

There are different power profiles that you can set Windows to depending on whether you’re after

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high performance at the cost of economy or vice versa. By default, Windows will be set to Balanced, giving you a nice mix of both. If you’re after better performance, head to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Power Options. Then click on ‘Show additional plans’ and set to ‘High performance’.

Reduce encryption and compression

Files are encrypted and compressed in order to save disk space and to increase security. Turn these features off to enjoy higher performance.

Set CPU affinity

Whether you’re working in a 3D application like 3ds Max or Maya, or video editing software such as Adobe Premiere, rendering operations really take it out of your processor (CPU). You can, however, assign different processes to specific cores (the

nuclei of your CPU) to free up processing power. Hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open up the Task Manager and select Details. Right-click on the process that you’d like to adapt and click on ‘set affinity’. This will let you adjust how many cores inside your CPU are assigned to rendering something out through V-Ray for Maya, for example.

Hyper-threading

Intel Hyper-Threading technology creates two virtual cores from each physical CPU core to increase performance and can be enabled or disabled in the BIOS. Enabling Hyper-Threading can boost performance in multithreaded applications, like ray-trace rendering, but can slow other procedures. If you’re unsure, check with your software supplier or use a utility like the Dell Precision Optimizer which automatically adjusts settings depending on the software you’re using.

above By having a really good clean up of your workstation you’re bound to increase performance. Make sure you’re regularly restarting and cleaning up your disk drives, too

Key tip

Disable Intel C-State and SpeedSTEP

In an ever more power-conscious age, manufacturers are working hard to ensure that unnecessary power consumption is avoided wherever possible. While this might be a priority for you as well, it’s worth noting that Intel SpeedStep and C-State both adversely affect the performance of your workstation if they think that the machine is idling. Turn these off to avoid unnecessary sluggishness. Be warned, though, that carrying this out is quite advanced as it requires diving into the BIOS – do not attempt this if you’re unsure of what you are doing as you may harm your computer.

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tIme to upGrade

although it might seem like an arduous task, buying and installing new workstation components isn’t exactly rocket science, and it’s absolutely critical over time

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ore often than not, the inside of your workstation fits together a bit like Meccano® – all you need is the knowhow and a screwdriver to remove and replace most of the components inside your tower. Whether or not you built your workstation from scratch or you bought it from a manufacturer or reseller, there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from investing in some beefier components to achieve better results from concept work through to the final render.

Get youRself some pRofessional GRaphics

We often speak to artists that have to run two or more gaming level GPUs in their workstation in order to achieve decent performance in the 3D

viewport. Get yourself a professional card, such as those from AMD’s FirePro range, and you’ll instantly see the difference, especially when working within a complex scene or making changes to a high-poly 3D model. As an example, upgrading your generic GPU to a professional solution (such as the AMD FirePro W7100) shows up an average frame rate score in

Solid frame rate scores across the board more than prove the power of a professional graphics solution like AMD FirePro

Autodesk Maya of 192.217fps – and this is on the basis that you’re working on a model with a poly count as demanding as over 500,000 polygons! Solid frame rate scores across the board in Maya and 3ds Max more than prove the power of a professional graphics solution like AMD FirePro, as you can see in the results on the right. Other things to bear in mind are compatibility and power consumption. Firstly, make sure that the GPU that you’re buying is fully compatible with your workstation. PCIe 3.0 cards will not work to their true potential in PCIe 1.0 workstations. Secondly, older or cheaper power supply units (PSUs) will struggle to output enough power to run a modern professional GPU. Look for a PSU with a high wattage and auxiliary PCI Express power connectors.

poWered By benchmaRKs

Key tip

It’s all well and good just shouting about graphics card performance – you need benchmark results to really gauge the power of a professional amd Gpu

miGRate windows to an ssd

3ds max 2016 fps

521664 Polygon model from Male Head Scan, camera animation over 1,500 frames in one viewport, in realistic viewport with 10K TIF image texture amd Firepro W5100

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maya 2016 fps

521664 Polygon model from Male Head Scan, camera animation over 1,500 frames in one viewport, in realistic viewport with 10K TIF image texture amd Firepro W5100

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amd Firepro W7100

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amd Firepro W9100 nvIdIa K2200

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many of you will no doubt be familiar with the fact that migrating your operating system to an SSd from your hard drive will increase boot speeds significantly, meaning no more waiting around for your computer to start up, and in a more tangible sense doing this will free up precious space on your hard drive, further boosting performance. SSds are much quicker at reading and writing data, so your workstation should feel more responsive in general after installing one. Find out from a reputable pC/ tech website or a professional what you’ll need to do to safely migrate your oS, as you need to be careful not to improperly clone your hdd.

moRe cpu poweR

If you’re in the market for a new CPU, the two things you need to bear in mind are frequency (measured in GHz) and how many cores the thing has. All applications will benefit from a processor with a higher clock rate (GHz), and picking up a new processor with a higher amount of cores will highly benefit multithreaded tasks such as rendering or simulation (including Bifröst effects in Maya). Something to remember is that some CPUs aren’t compatible with certain motherboards, so do a bit of research before investing. Also, ensure that you’ve got the correct heat sink/fan for your processor and use a good quality thermal paste to attach your heat sink to the CPU.

GRab moRe memoRy

above left Complex scenes that make use of materials when rendering require more processing power, as it’s the Cpu doing all the work above RiGht If your sole focus is modelling then you don’t need to worry too much about having a ridiculously powerful Cpu

above upgrading to a professional graphics card, such as the amd Firepro W8100, is essential if you’re working in demanding 3d applications RiGht the amd Firepro W7100 recorded excellent frame rate results in our benchmark tests, and is useful for a variety of Gpu-intensive tasks

A decent amount of random access memory (RAM) is crucial for any demanding tasks, such as modelling, texturing and rendering a 3D model or scene. Luckily for you, upgrading your RAM capacity is pretty much the simplest part of upgrading a workstation and one of the cheapest, too. But why is it important? If your workstation runs out of available memory the system can slow down completely due to hard drive caching. Get online or to a computer shop and sort yourself out some more RAM – it barely costs anything and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results!

buy a new display

This one is pretty self-explanatory, really. We’re at the stage now where Full HD (1920 x 1080) is pretty much the standard resolution for low-end monitors, some of which cost less than £100 and still offer a crisp display. However, nowadays you’ve got 4K monitors (3840 x 2160) and 5K monitors (5120 x 2880) to consider. These displays are insanely detailed, but you’re not going to see much difference unless you’re rocking a 32-inch screen or more. Bear in mind that high-performance displays will sap more juice out of your GPU, so bear this in mind before splashing out too hastily – the same goes for running multiple monitors simultaneously, which many artists do.

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Buy a new workstation You might decide that, instead of working with what you’ve already got, you need to invest in a shiny new machine

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hether modelling, texturing, compositing, simulations, lighting and rendering or otherwise is your poison, there’s bound to be a workstation out there that will adequately satiate your needs. We’ve put together a guide to help you to decide on the best workstation solution for you, covering each of the major components and explaining what they mean.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

Professional GPUs, much like the AMD FirePro range, offer the performance and quality that are essential for VFX enthusiasts and professionals, as they are tested, optimised and certified to work with leading CG applications such as Maya and 3ds Max. Whether you’re adding effects to a short film, animating a character, building high and low-poly assets for a videogame or otherwise, a professional graphics solution is definitely the way to go. The mid-range AMD FirePro W7100 performs extremely well in both Maya and 3ds Max when faced with a high-poly asset. For even more intensive procedures or for artists using multiple monitors displaying multiple viewports, the AMD FirePro W8100 and W9100 offer staggering GPU performance. A more powerful graphics card with more memory can help with smooth model manipulation in exceptionally large 3D models or particularly when using advanced view features. When buying a workstation try to find a good balance between CPU and graphics card. A high-end graphics card such as the FirePro W8100 or W9100 will not be able to express its true power if the CPU you’re using runs at a low clock rate. Higher end graphics cards can also offer additional benefits. A single AMD FirePro W7100 can connect to up to four 4K displays, meaning that navigating between different viewports when building a 3D scene is a breeze. This is made possible by AMD Eyefinity multidisplay technology, which is also available in other professional GPUs. The FirePro W5100, for example, features four discrete display outputs, while the top-end W9100 features six outputs. GPUs can also be used to accelerate compute intensive tasks such as ray-trace rendering – the

tasks that are usually carried out by CPUs. For ray tracing, the AMD FireRender plugin delivers interactive photorealistic rendering functionality in major software applications with AMD FirePro W-series GPUs.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Modern CPUs comprise multiple processors known as cores. When there was only one core per chip you had the choice of a single or dual processor workstation. Now things are measured in single or dual sockets and the number of cores per socket. On a single-socket workstation four cores are common, but this can extend as high as 36 cores in a dual-socket workstation, which obviously offers crazy levels of performance. It’s worth remembering, though, that clock speed is also extremely important when deciding on which brain you’re after for your new machine. Your choice of CPU will also depend, ultimately, on your discipline. If you’re a modeller through and through, then it’s likely that you’ll be able to work with a decent single-socket machine. If your game is dealing with materials, particles and really advanced simulations/FX then a dual-socket machine is a must. It’s all common sense, but an important decision does need to be made. It really isn’t worth buying a two-socket machine if you’re only going to need one, as upgrading later can be really tricky and is very expensive. Ultimately, when buying a new workstation, have a think about what levels of performance you really need, as opting for top-end processors, such as the high-end Intel Xeon chips, can set you back a fair amount indeed. You may find that if you’re only spending time doing postproduction work such as roto or little touchups then a monster machine isn’t for you and neither is a super expensive CPU. However, if you spend an awful lot of time performing several tasks at once or deal in extremely complicated simulations or heavy rendering operations then bear in mind that you’ll need a CPU that can handle them. Once again, consider the power of your graphics card, as this will, in some cases, dictate how much processor power you’re better off opting for.

A more powerful graphics card with more memory can help with smooth model manipulation in exceptionally large 3D models or particularly when using advanced view features

3ds Max scaling

Of particular note is the scaling that takes place when using an AMD FirePro card for intensive 3ds Max tasks. When running a 1,500 frame animation of a model at 521,664 polygons, AMD FirePro cards achieve excellent frame rates from the bottom upwards, with the high-end W9100 reaching a staggering frame rate of 126.

Storage needs

With the effectiveness of SSDs and their potential performance boost, it’s a component worth thinking about when buying a new machine, as an SSD is pretty essential if you’re working in 3D. By installing your operating system on an SSD and keeping all of your 3D scene files, video footage and more on a separate hard drive your machine is likely to perform better. SSDs have far quicker read/write times than HDDs, although keep cost in mind – SSD real estate is far more expensive than that of an HDD, meaning that it costs more per GB of storage. As an example, in tests the boot speed from a 1GB 7,200rpm HDD with a 3.4GHz processor was 67 seconds. Replace that drive with a 250GB SSD plugged into the same SATA slot and the same boot speed fell to only 22 seconds.

Powered by The OpenCL revolution

Backed by hardware manufacturers like AMD, OpenCL enables popular 3D applications to tap into the processing power of modern GPUs, opening up bold new ways of working Times have changed, and computing power no longer entirely rests in the CPU. Instead, OpenCL technology has enabled GPUs to carry some of that burden. Modern GPUs pack a serious amount of parallel processing power, enabling a huge variety of tasks to be accelerated by the GPU through the adoption of OpenCL technology. Due to its growing array of proponents at a hardware level, such as AMD and its FirePro range, OpenCL has been adopted by the big guns of the VFX and digital media worlds such as Autodesk and Adobe, as well as popular apps like Blender and Side Effects’ Houdini. Want real-world examples? We’ve got you covered.

GPUs speed up complex tasks

left When buying a brand spanking new workstation, it’s crucial to understand exactly what your requirements will be, based on your area of CG expertise

For eyeon Software, the benefit of GPU computing is simple: raw power. Eyeon was one of the first DCC software developers to support OpenCL, using it to accelerate computationally intensive tasks within Fusion, its professional compositing system. “With hundreds or even thousands of cores available [on the GPU] we can implement more complex FX algorithms,” says Joanne Dicaire, eyeon’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. “Deep volume fog takes approximately 40 minutes per frame to render in a 3D renderer. As a GPU version, Fusion’s deep volume fog renders at 10 frames per second or faster with full raycasted selfshadowed lighting – unprecedented for a compositing application.”

OpenCL opens up new working methods

Memory

Due to the complex nature of modern 3D applications and the potential for you to create far more technical models, scenes and effects, buying a workstation with a hefty allocation of random access memory (RAM) is absolutely essential. For Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max users we’d recommend a workstation with a minimum of 16GB on-board RAM, preferably with a motherboard setup that will enable you to add two more 8GB sticks at a later date to bring the total to 32GB, should you wish.

Cutting computation time from days to minutes means that VFX facilities can take on jobs that would have been impossible with the CPU alone; eyeon has experienced this first hand. “We are working with studios to develop new tools and workflow enhancements, together with GPU and OpenCL optimisations,” says Dicaire. “For Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous, we worked with Uncharted Territory to develop the 3D volume fog system. The budget and time constraints meant the visual effects could not have been done in any other way.”

Write once, run anywhere

Unlike CUDA, Nvidia’s proprietary parallel computing architecture, OpenCL code is compiled at run-time, rather than precompiled in advance and stored in a binary format inside the executable. This presents its own challenges for developers, but the advantage is that the code can support new hardware right away rather than being reliant on timed updates.

A new way of GPU thinking

With its combination of write once, run anywhere functionality and widespread industry support, OpenCL is opening up new ways for CAD, DCC and simulation software developers to tap into the power of modern GPUs. Autodesk has implemented GPU support in Maya 2016’s built-in deformers. These deformers include SkinCluster, BlendShape and SoftMod, with support planned for further deformers in future updates to Maya. For Bruce Hickey, Autodesk’s software development manager, the work is part of an ongoing industry collaboration: one that will ultimately change how both software and hardware are developed. “The way that animation is done right now is quite freeform,” he says. “We’re working with production companies to agree that there’s a certain order in which operations have to be carried out. If we can codify that, it will help us see the full potential of the hardware.”

Collaboration is key

A close relationship with hardware manufacturers like AMD is essential. “We have a very tight connection with AMD’s back-end team,” says Hickey. “We’re happy to provide the feedback to enable them to get the last ounce of performance out of their technology.” It’s a sentiment shared by Autodesk media & entertainment product manager Kamal Mistry: “The performance we are seeing is incredible!” he says. “Calculations happen in real time and frame rates stay high, even when working on complex VFX. I can’t wait to see the improvements with the next generation of AMD FirePro cards and how the software will truly sing.”

Reproduced by kind permission of 3D Artist Issue 84